This Cold War With You
by crazyspaceystracey
Summary: Narcissa visits Lucius in Azkaban following his arrest in the department of mysteries. One-shot.


AN: I do not own Harry Potter.

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The stench was terrible, but it was nothing compared to the drab walls where she could see every cobweb and every piece of slime and mildew from the water damage that had been inflicted upon Azkaban over the years. Even though the Dementors were gone, for some reason she could still distinctly feel their presence wash over her the second she had entered the building. Narcissa shivered and pulled her cloak tighter around herself. This was only the lobby, and it was vile. She wanted to retch at the thought of the rest of this place. She honestly had no idea why anyone would willingly martyr themselves to occupancy in such a place. Bellatrix, Narcissa was convinced, was warped. She had always been slightly off, but she willingly entered this place when she could have claimed _Imperious_; That took a special amount of stupidity, blind faith, craziness, or some mixture of the three. It wasn't as if Bellatrix would have actually been convicted if she claimed bewitchment. After all, she had access to enough money from both the Lestranges and Blacks to get away with anything. Yes, her sister was crazy. Her only ambition in her life was to serve someone else. She quickly sidestepped a puddle of some unknown substance and crinkled her nose in disgust. It was almost funny thinking about the fit Lucius must be throwing in his cell. 

Almost...

"Mrs. Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy?"

She raised an eyebrow to her name, before spinning, a perfect picture of elegance. She saw two guards, fairly young, a man and a woman, neither of whom she recognized as anyone near her status. "Yes?"

"We are to take you to the security checkpoint."

"Fine then," she said coolly, following the two of them out of the lobby and into a long corridor. Honestly, why did they send _two_ guards? Did they think she was going to start throwing Unforgiveables around? Her expensive shoes clicked down the poorly lit corridor. She had been right the rest of the building wasn't any better than the lobby, but surprisingly it wasn't any worse. She could already see herself at home sick and making Draco owl the family's healer for some sort of Allergy Potion. The two guards abruptly stopped at a desk. They stopped so abruptly that Narcissa almost slammed right into the woman's back.

"The least you could do was give me a warning," she sneered. The guard ignored her as was expected. She turned towards the desk and saw a very unattractive overweight wizard behind it. She could only imagine how bad his breath probably smelled. He never looked over the copy of the Daily Prophet he was reading, when he asked for her wand. Were these incompetent fools working here when Sirius escaped? If so, no wonder he was able to escape and stay free. She handed her wand over without a word of protest. The wizard finally sat down the paper, and Narcissa visibly cringed at the front page. She never even noticed the wizard locking her wand up behind the desk, while her eyes roamed the front page. She swallowed as she reread the headline she had read about a hundred times that morning: "You-Know-Who Returns; Malfoy Among Captured Death Eaters". It was the same paper she had in the pocket of her robes at the moment. It had a picture of dear Minister Fudge trying to block cameras – _imbecile_ – along with a second picture of her husband being hauled off by Aurors.

A fresh burst of anger seared throughout her entire body. How dare he...? How dare he embarrass her? How dare he embarrass his family in such a way? She already had to deal with a nasty blood traitor for a sister and a deranged sadistic sister who ran around in a hood with a ridiculous brand burned into her skin. To be successful no one should ever know what side you are really on. Lucius and the name Malfoy was supposed to be her out. She would be Narcissa Malfoy, not Narcissa Black who happened to be the only normal child her parents produced. As Narcissa Malfoy she could achieve her own goals in places where the name of Black was not respected anymore. Lucius's ambition was to be minister of magic, and she was perfectly content helping him achieve that, after all the wife of the minister was a lofty goal in itself. It really is amazing when your husband holds all the same ideals that you do. Their ambition was the minister's mansion, and there they could change the world for the better. Her son's child would NOT be running around Hogwarts with students less worthy.

_Thank you, Andromeda. Without you running off with that filthy man, mother and father would never have made such a smart match when it came to Lucius and me._

She could honestly care less what her husband did in his free time. He could run around torturing muggles at the World Cup all he wanted. He could have as many extramarital affairs as his heart desired. It wasn't as if Narcissa, herself, hadn't taken certain liberties with some of the finer specimens Lucius hired to do things around the house. Before their wedding the two of them met to come up with some ground rules for their marriage. Rule number one: They would produce an heir (which is the only thing Lucius actually saw Draco as, something she could see etched upon her son's face each time she looked). Rule number two: They would always be discreet in anything they did as to not embarrass the family in type of scandal.

_Discreet...? What a joke._

"Pat her down."

Narcissa's eyes narrowed. "You will not treat me as if I'm a common criminal," she said in a soft but threatening tone.

"Mrs. Malfoy," the overweight wizard spat as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. "As far as I'm concerned you are no better than your husband."

Narcissa raised a pale eyebrow as a bit of old Black pride washed over her. The Malfoys really wouldn't be anything today if not for the Blacks constant investment into their businesses years ago. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're just a bitter man whose mother was too overbearing during your childhood." She saw the man's face redden. She looked him up and down. "Probably a Hufflepuff, also. Now, I have done nothing wrong, and if you continue to treat me in this manner, you will one day regret it." The man looked as if he were trying to hold back a laugh.

"Listen lady..."

"Mrs. Malfoy." She corrected sternly. "You will show me some amount of respect." She said as she stretched her arms out to her sides and held her head high. She never lost eye contact with the man behind the desk, while she was patted down.

"She's clean," the woman said.

Narcissa looked at the man with indifference. "Does this mean I am able to discuss some pertinent business with my husband, or will I have to show you my forearms to gain entry?"

The wizard scoffed.

"Go ahead, Mrs. Malfoy." He said the name disdainfully and sarcastically. Narcissa ignored his tone. He would get his someday. "Your wand will be here when you return." He then turned to her two escorts. "Take her back there," he said, motioning towards the large door.

On closer inspection the door seemed to glow with the amount of charms placed on it. Narcissa resisted the urge to scoff. Curses would be so much more appropriate and effective in this situation, but, of course, the self proclaimed good guys (the same good guys that let the so called bad guy Voldemort run wild for a year) would never use any type of "dark" magic. One of her escorts muttered a few incantations under her breath. As if Narcissa would use this information against them, Lucius could rot for all she cared at this point. Not for his actions, of course, but for his utter stupidity. He could rot in Azkaban for getting caught. After all the times Harry Potter had played around with heroics, it was stupid for anyone to believe he'd just hand over a prophecy. Lucius really should have known better than that. He was a brilliant man. She may actually end up missing the conversations the two had around the house. They never addressed each other with any more affection than friends had for one another. He even respected her intelligence. Only time would tell, though, if she would miss him. The door opened, and Narcissa gagged.

_Absolutely disgusting._

"Last cell on your right," one of her escorts said nonchalantly. Narcissa took a deep breath, smoothed out her robes, and began her walk toward her husband's cell. _Oh, yes. He was definitely losing his mind in here,_ she thought to herself as she eyed the grey walls. She was actually glad the dementors were gone. She wouldn't even wish that on Lucius. She turned to face his cell.

"Narcissa," he drawled, still sounding as privileged and rich as he usually did.

"Lucius," she replied coldly. She reached in her robes and pulled out the paper. "Fudge is on his way out," she stated simply.

"Fudge," Lucius said with a sneer, "was nothing but an imbecile that couldn't see past his own nose and ambition. Although, it worked well for the Dark Lord in the end with the ministry denying everything."

Narcissa glanced back towards her escorts, who were watching her from a distance. She took a step up towards the bars. "You've upset our plans, Lucius." He waved his hand at her in dismissal. "Everything is ruined now because of you."

"You worry too much."

His condescending dismissal just served to anger her further. She clutched the paper in hand and threw it at him. "You are on the front page! You can claim bewitchment once, but a second time it won't work. Everything is gone. Everything we've worked for. The Parkinsons owled this morning. They aren't sure they want their daughter marrying Draco now."

Lucius stood quickly and walked toward her. "The Parkinsons are supporters of the Dark Lord as well. What are they playing at?"

"They want to keep up appearances, dear. Like you should have," she told him patronizingly. "They weren't stupid enough to get caught," she said sharply.

Lucius raised an eyebrow at his wife's bluntness. "They'll come around. They're not stupid. Who else would marry their daughter? The name Malfoy still instils a fear in most pureblood families. They'll find no one else. Most boys her age are already betrothed as it is. Anyways, you are the one that passed on the information from that wretched old house-elf of yours."

"You think you have an answer for everything then and that you can blame everyone else?"

"This is a bump, Narcissa."

"I'm not stupid, Lucius. This is not a bump. You've. Ruined. Everything," she said in a dangerously quite voice. "Fudge is on his way out. If you hadn't gone to play the villain, we would be campaigning and before the school year started we'd being sitting high in the minister's mansion. I'm a Black, Lucius. I follow the set rules of save your own ass, and I know how to keep up appearances."

He raised an eyebrow at her, knowning exactly what she was talking about. "Narcissa, you know you can't divorce me. I'd ruin you. Unless your sister confesses to the murder of your dear blood traitor cousin, there is no proof of his death. You have no Black money, and I'll leave you with nothing." She opened her mouth to retort. How dare he threaten her? "Don't put Draco through that. You wouldn't want him living like that muggle-loving fool Weasley, now, would you?"

"Damn you. Like you care!" She shook herself from her momentary lapse of temper. He knew that was her weakness. Draco. She took a couple deep unsteady breaths. "Very well. You've made your argument. I _will_ fix this problem you've caused us. I talked to the court to try to get you released. They refused. You'll be in here until your trial in February," she said coldly. "I'll attempt to get this place more liveable. Even if you've destroyed the name Malfoy, people can still be bought."

"You go ahead and do what you believe is necessary, Narcissa, after all you're a Slytherin to the core."


End file.
